THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR - ATLANTIC SEABOARD

NOTE

In a rare (and I have to say unwelcome) change of my usual plans I have departed from what is my idea of chronological order (like history depending upon where I am at any given moment) to a more usual idea of chronological order - i.e. where everyone else was at a given moment. What I have been doing therefore is cutting out the details of any Civil War sites that I encountered on my voyage around the Eastern United States and pasting them here in strict chronological order, to make it easier to follow.

There are actually three pages to follow, namely

The early period with both sides jockeying for position. This period probably lasts as far a Chancellorsville. Chancellorsville was an exceptionally fortunate Confederate victory against an inept opponent in a battle in which, by rights, the Confederates should have been swept from the field. The next battle, Gettysburg, showed the south precisely what they were up against.
The later period of the war as the North ground inexorably onwards and the south was definitely on the defensive.
Grant's Overland Campaign of 1864-65 which, for sentimental reasons, merits a page of its own.

This is page 3 - Grants Overland Campaign.

Having said that, however, you'll probably notice that many of these articles are somewhat spectacularly bare for the moment. In the words of the Harvard Lampoon, author of Bored of the Rings, "Whilst Tolkein's tale grew in the telling, my work grew in inverse proportion to my bank account".

As I've recently been engaged on some full-time work away from home, and I'm currently doing some freelance contracting, my bank account is growing in the general direction of the photovoltaic tiles I need for the roof of my farm. This means that this web site is growing only slowly, as I unravel from my dictaphone and my energy drink-sodden notes the story of my voyage around the east coast of the USA in late Spring 2005.

You can see where I've reached (metaphorically speaking) by going back to the main story and following the links until you grind to a halt. So keep looking back to see where I'm up to. Meantime, I shall leave you with the immortal words of Philaster Chase Johnson, who had similar challenges upon his time when writing his magazine, the name of which I have unfortunately forgotten.

"Cheer up. The worst is yet to come."

GRANT'S OVERLAND CAMPAIGN 1864-65

The difficulty with doing something like this is knowing where to start. The commander of the Army of the Potomac, General Meade, started at Gettysburg with a famous victory. And that was just as well, for his predecessor, Hooker, had lost a battle at Chancellorsville that by rights he should have won by a country mile. Hooker's precipitous flight from Virginia, and Lee's subsequent chase were desperate moments for the Union, and had Meade lost the battle at Gettysburg, the Confederates would have been in Washington within 72 hours.

The soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, or at least the new recruits amongst them, started shortly later. Realising that numbers were the key to victory and that the south's supply of recruits had all but dried up, Lincoln made a proclamation on 17th October 1863, in which he called for 300,000 extra men ready to make a start next spring for the big push on into Northern Virginia and, hopefully, Richmond and the end of the war.

Each man who signed up was promised a bounty of 300$, on top of which many states paid a handsome bonus. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for example, offered an additional 325$. Some towns offered extra too. The town of Fitchburg Massachusetts offered 100$ on top, so a recruit for the 57th Massachusetts Volunteers, one of the best-researched regiments of the Civil War period, received a sum of 725$ - well over a year's wages for a poor labourer. So much so, in fact, that many soldiers made a substantial living by signing into one regiment, waiting until their bonus had been paid, then deserting and re-enlisting somewhere else.

After a great deal of training, the army assembled at Annapolis, Maryland where they joined up with their new commander, Ulysses S Grant, who had been appointed over the head of Meade on the 9th March 1864, on the strength of his resolute victories over the Confederates in the western theatre.

I could have started in many places, such as Washington DC, which is where our paths crossed for the first time as the Army marched towards Virginia, or at Centreville, through which they passed on 28 April 1864 and through which I passed on 20th April 2005.

On their way to the front line, the Army of the Potomac passed the Bull Run battlefields in the early afternoon of the same day, although it wasn't until 2nd May 2005 that I crossed their path again. From Bull Run, the army headed south following the tracks of the Orange and Alexandra Railroad, until the soldiers reached Brandy Station, on the banks of the Rappahannock. Here, at the site of the famous cavalry battle of 9th June 1863, they fell in with the veterans from the autumn campaigns around northern Virginia at battles such as Mine Run. Now, the army was complete.

On the afternoon of 4th May 1864, in the driving rain, the army finally marched out to the Germanna Ford, where they crossed the Rapidan River, and headed south along the Germanna Plank Road to the Wilderness Tavern, which is where I finally joined the march.

I wasn't the only person to join up with the march at the Wilderness Tavern either. At the Wilderness Tavern, the Orange Turnpike comes in from the west. And as General Warren's Fifth Corps marched past the tavern eastwards on the Germanna Plank Road in the direction of Chancellorsville, from where I had just come, Ewell's Confederates poured a volley of rifle fire into Warren's flank.

The battle was on

THE WILDERNESS

The Orange Turnpike is the road that can be seen running more-or-less horizontally in the photograph here on the left. The Wilderness Tavern is about a mile and a half away, down the Orange Turnpike to the left.

As he was marching past the Wilderness Tavern, Warren had received a report that there was a body of Confederate troops along the Orange Turnpike to his right, that could place his right flank in danger. Warren sent a division of his army to investigate this body of troops. Once the presence of Confederate troops had been established, Grant sent orders to Warren to attack.

What happened next took the entire Union Army by surprise, for this was not merely a division or so of Confederate troops, as Warren and Grant were expecting. The soldiers found that they were confronting Ewell's entire Army Corps.

This surprising development put Warren under immediate heavy pressure, particularly as the Confederate response to Warren's taking up position was to unleash a volley of rifle fire, albeit at long range but with devastating effect, into the 140th New York Regiment. Sedgewick's Sixth Corps, which was some way behind Warren's soldiers, took a side turning from the Germanna Plank Road that brought them onto the Orange Turnpike just a short distance from here, and battle was joined.

Ewell's troops were well dug in at the top of the hill, on the skyline of the photograph above underneath the trees. Here, they prepared to receive the Union attack. Lee had done his work very well. He had anticipated Grant's movements, and had decided to attack the Union Army while it was strung out along the road in the difficult Wilderness terrain.

The Wilderness Battlefield - view from Confederate trenches to Union assault

The photograph on the left shows the view that the Confederate troops had from their trenches on the brow of the hill, with the Orange Turnpike on the left. The wooden building on the left edge of the photograph was the point from which the first photograph was taken. Or, at least, the view would have been like this, but things are so different today than in 1864.

Not far away from what was to be the Wilderness battlefield is an ironworks, the Catharine Furnace. It was a thriving industrial location in the early part of the 19th Century, and all the woodland for miles around had been cut down to provide charcoal for the furnaces. The ironworks had closed by the time the Civil War broke out (the Confederates did make an attempt to restart work here but they were smashed to pieces by the Union Army during the battle of Chancellorsville and thus what had once been woodland and had then been cleared was now a tangled mass of scrubland and young tree growth).

If anyone doubts just what a tangled mass this kind of growth can produce, then this photograph is actually the back garden of a house not too far away, on Roanoke Island in North Carolina, that has been left to run to seed. Now, just imagine attacking anyone anywhere through scrub like that. The Confederates, although greatly outnumbered, had chosen their defensive line well.

The Wilderness Battlefield - Confederate trenches on the ridge at the top of the Orange Turnpike

The photograph on the left shows the remains of the trenches that the Confederates dug on the top of the rise that is shown in the photograph above. All of the battlefield is criss-crossed by similar traces, which makes it quite easy to follow the defensive lines of the battle as the fighting swayed back and forth through the Wilderness.

The road passing on the horizontal plane is the Orange Turnpike, and the federal attack would develop from the right of the photograph.

Throughout the day, the Union forces flung themselves at the Confederate trenches. The initial attack broke through the lines, but the Confederates retook them, and line held out for the rest of the day. By nightfall, the exhausted armies paused to gather their strength for another day.

The Wilderness Battlefield - junction of Brock Road and Orange Plank Road

This is the junction of the Brock Road and the Orange Plank Road a couple of miles south of the Orange Turnpike. At dawn the next day, Hancock attacked Hill's forces down the Orange Plank Road to the left, and only the fortituous arrival of some of Longstreet's army on the battlefield saved the Confederates from disaster.

The Wilderness Battlefield - trenches at Tapp's Farm

The Wilderness Battlefield - site of Tapp's Farm

But already, the numbers of troops engaged in the battle show the stark truth that was facing the Confederacy. They put in 60,000 or so men. The Union Army numbered over 100,000. No matter how bravely or effectively the Confederate forces could fight, they would always be outnumbered.

SPOTSYLVANIA

Spotsylvania battlefield. "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist ....", said Union General John Sedgewick, as he exposed himself to a distant enemy on this spot at the start of the Battle of Spotsylvania on 9th May 1864. A Confederate sniper picked him off before he was able to finish his sentence.

At least, so tradition has it. Other reports suggest that not only did he finish his sentence but had time to engage in banter with a soldier who had taken cover.

So take your pick.

Spotsylvania battlefield - view from Bloody Angle

Spotsylvania battlefield - Bloody Angle

Spotsylvania battlefield

NORTH ANNA RIVER

After leaving Spotsylvania, the Union forces headed eternally southwards in the general direction of Richmond. The next obstacle to be crossed was the North Anna River. It wasn't until I arrived back on the main road that I noticed a plaque giving some indication that a skirmish took place somewhere at or near the point shown in the photograph here on the left.

This photograph is looking southwards up the road in the general direction of Richmond, as I have my back to the river.

North Anna River Grants Overland Campaign Virginia

This is the river itself, and you can see that it is a desperate muddy stream with muddy banks, and with a steep descent in and steep slithery scramble out. And the Union forces needed to cross it to head towards Richmond. They did in fact cross the river round about here, and then they attacked the Confederate guns up on the hill, where they "took one hell of a beating".

One thing that always puzzled me about the fight. If you want to seriously upset your enemy, the best time to attack him is when he is preoccupied with other things. Like trying to get in and out of a deep muddy river. If I had been in charge of the Confederate Army, I would have had my guns on the forward slope up here and pounded the Union forces with shrapnel and grape while they were all stuck in the mud. Not many would have got out alive if I'd been in charge, that's for sure.

But not the Confederate artillery. They were placed well back up the hill, and the crossing was more-or-less unopposed. This meant that the van of the Union Army could regroup before charging up the hill to the guns.

Having the guns well back and letting the Unionists charge them is a wasted opportunity, in my opinion. It's open to all sorts of risks that you don't need to take and perils you don't need to face.

HANOVER JUNCTION

Where I was parked up to take this photograph, I was surrounded on all sides by railway lines.

This explains the importance of Hanover Junction during the Civil War. It was the main railway line out of Richmond towards Fredericksburg, a city almost continually under siege in the early part of the war, as well as being the junction for the railway lines to the coast and, more importantly, to the Shenandoah Valley, the "breadbasket of the Confederacy".

If Hanover Junction had been taken, it would have isolated Fredericksburg and also cut off the supply of food to Richmond and the Confederate soldiers at the front. Hence both the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 and Grant's Overland Campaign of 1864 saw Hanover Junction as being a prize well worth winning for the Unionists.

COLD HARBOR